nee asked, “When a person
is nearing death,
is there a mantra
for the occasion?”
Oh sure,
I could teach you
Om A-mi De-wa Hri
the mantra of A-mi-ta-bha
who, legend tells us,
swore an oath,
many ages ago,
that all who invoke him,
would take rebirth:
immediate and auspicious,
in his pure land,
or paradise,
of Joy.
Although such an answer
might satisfy the fundamentalists:
fearful, controlling, and rigid;
it could actually trigger
our clinging impulse
which is actually antithetical
to the Buddha’s teaching.
Let’s take a step back
and view death and dying
from the perspective
of first principals.
From a certain point of view
the Buddha’s FIRST noble truth
was there is stress,
and plenty of it.
When it comes to stress
our brainstem dreads loss, as well as pain,
and our midbrain dreads a loss
of interpersonal connection
as well as a loss of perception,
emotion, intention, reason,
recall, and imagination
that we could feel is self
(if there is such a thing).
We feel this dread
to a greater or lesser degree
at the prospect
of any death:
our own, a close companion, a celebrity,
or to a lesser degree, even a stranger.
For as healthy mammals
born with fully functional mid-brains
replete with anterior gyrates
and a firmament of mirror neurons
we are wired for empathy,
it is our birthright
and perhaps even
our Buddha nature.
The SECOND noble truth teaches
that although all are subject
to the vicissitudes of stress:
seeming random and capricious,
humans have the unfortunate tendency
to neurotically indulge dread and desire
in such a way
as to exacerbate our stress.
The THIRD noble truth reassures us
that there exists the possibility
IF not to rid ourselves
of the presence of dread and desire
THEN at least
to liberate us
from their tyranny.
The FOURTH noble truth
explains that this is accomplished
NOT by invoking the caprice
of a real or imagined celestial entity,
BUT by simply practicing
eight sets of techniques.
Specifically,
by harnessing the energy
of our dread or desire
through the active contemplation
of love and letting-go
(the second and first folds of his path)
and also through the passive practice
of mindfulness and meditation
(the seventh and eighth folds of his path).
In the numerical discourses of the Buddha
we read that the contemplation of love
(no less their practice,
the third, fourth, and fifth folds of his path)
ensures us
an auspicious rebirth
and in the Dhammapada
we read that mindfulness
(the seventh fold of his path)
is eternal life.
Thus, by enthusiastically practicing
(the sixth fold of his path)
the most fundamental
of the Buddha’s teachings
we can insure a meaningful life
and a peaceful death.
A similar process
could be used
to help us through
the grieving process.
But how could we help others
who are facing the specter of death?
Of course we can teach them the techniques
we have mastered
but what if they are unwilling
or unable to learn?
When we sit with them
they could entrain
up to our peace.
And when we practice
our loving-kindness contemplations
we can wish for their auspicious rebirth.
All of these we’ll explore
during this morning’s guided
meditation.
Let us conclude
with a simple
call to action
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